A bus driver saved the life of a girl in Derby when he stopped her jumping off a bridge and pulled her to safety.

Mark Igoe, 44, sprang into action when he saw a young woman climb up onto the stone wall on the east side of the Derwent Street Bridge last Saturday (January 13).

The bus driver for Trent Barton says he rushed out of his bus that was parked nearby and grabbed her while a fellow bus driver called the police.

The Ilkeston man said: “I didn’t really think about it, it just had to be done.

This is the spot Mark says the woman tried to jump off.

“I thought she looked like she was going to jump off so I ran to her and put my arm around her to try and stop her from jumping.

“There was another driver in a parked bus opposite, so as I was holding her I told him to call the police.

“She tried to break free so I grabbed her with both arms and eventually she allowed me to pull her to safety.”

Mark described the woman as in her late teens or early twenties and said: “She looked like she had just been to a nightclub as she only had a little top on, so I put my jacket around her.

Mark is a bus driver for Trentbarton.

“I waited with her for a while until two people turned up who said that they were her friends and another who said he was her brother.

“After that I thought she was in good hands and the police were on their way. I had a job to do so I got back in my bus and drove the route.”

Derbyshire Police confirmed that they received a call just after half past two in the morning.

They said that there was a report of someone on the bridge wall, but by the time police officers arrived, family members of the person were already there.

Derwent Street Bridge.

Mark said: “I’d do the same for anybody. Sometimes people reach low points in their life and need someone to show them a bit of kindness. It can make all the difference.

“I’m not a hero, I didn’t have a choice really. It’s just one of those things you’ve got to do.”

Mark described how on the night he was sitting in his bus, driving the H1 route in Derbyshire, when he noticed a young woman come past him from the River Gardens.

He said: “I saw her stop on the bridge and look down into the water, and then she put her leg up on the stone wall.

Mark says that he'd do the same for anyone.

“I immediately went over to her and asked her if she was ok. She looked like she was in distress, but she just nodded and didn’t say anything.

“So I walked back to my bus and when I went back I looked in my mirrors and saw that she had climbed up onto the wall and was sitting on it.

“I had to do something, and I thought she was going to jump.”

* If you need someone to talk to, call the Samaritans on 116 123. Their counsellors are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.